Travel

For those of you familiar with the typical American college student spring break, you know that it generally entails transporting an Animal House environment to exotic locations such as Cancun, Fort Lauderdale, the Bahamas, or the Carribean. However there has been a movement in recent years to offer students an alternative to these stereotypical spring […]

The recent publicity surrounding the emergency landing of U.S. Air Flight 1549 in the Hudson River a few weeks ago, was only the tip of the iceberg in regards to the growing dangers of collisions between aircraft and birds, particularly migratory waterfowl, at major airports around the world. When theses risks have to do with […]

(Shai Zakai: Self portrait 4X2 m. photograph on canvas purchased by Ministry of Environment.) Since nature can’t speak for itself, Israeli artist Shai Zakai has appointed herself as the human moderator. For more than a decade she’s been working as an ecological artist, to communicate and record humankind’s impact on our fragile world. Her most […]

The olive tree in this photo is reputed to be 2000 years old – give or take a century or so. It’s growing in a grove just above the village of Deir Hanna, in the North of Israel, one of five there that have attained record-breaking ages. I was a part of a group of […]

(Snapshot of the WWF coral map of Qatar and UAE coral reefs). With worrying reports of coral death globally, with global warming to blame, it’s heartening to hear that Arab nations, who are more known for causing global warming, are now working to protect coral reefs. Mapping the reefs to know where to install underwater […]

In summer, Israelis battle jellyfish, an introduced species that came to the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal. But that’s nothing compared to what Iran’s battling right now: A weird and wacky red, soap-like super foam is taking over the Persian Gulf in Iran. Known as the “red tide,” it’s the result of an excessive […]

Green Prophet’s Ilana Teitelbaum recently wrote an article about Israel’s water crisis at the Huffington Post. Rainstorms have been raging throughout Israel in the past week, after a warm and bone-dry winter. Winter, which is the only rainy season in the Middle East. There is no such thing as spring or summer rain, and in […]

(A photograph of the female C. echinata coral, expelling its eggs into the water around it.) Research from TAU unlocks the secret of coral survival during global warming Trees do it. Bees do it. Even environmentally stressed fish do it. But Prof. Yossi Loya from Tel Aviv University’s Department of Zoology is the first in […]

Sometimes the urban environment is an ideal place for wild animals. Here’s an example: In 2006, Petach Tikva’s two hospitals merged to form the Rabin Medical Center. Since then, several new buildings have appeared at the Beilinson campus while the Hasharon campus, a few kilometers away, lies stagnating. The health ministry originally planned to shut […]

“So Hiram, King of Tyre, gave King Solomon timber of cedar and timber of cypress according to all his desire.”-Book of Kings vs. 24 A recent article by Ahmed Khatib in the Lebanese Daily Star emphasized the dangers of climate change and global warming to Lebanon‘s remaining cedar groves, which have been a historic national […]

Last year’s Eco-Israel group on a trip to the North. Photo courtesy Naomi Katz. Although winter has come to Israel belatedly in the season’s heaviest rainfalls this weekend, the ecological farm Hava Ve’Adam outside of Modi’in is now accepting applications for the fall term of its Eco-Israel program. For the uninitiated, Eco-Israel is a chance to get […]

Last month, I had the unexpected pleasure of visiting Abu Dhabi and Dubai, two of the seven tiny kingdoms that together make up the United Arab Emirates. I was there to cover the World Future Energy Summit, an international conference on renewable energy technologies. This was my first visit to the Emirates, which have a […]

Tu B’Shvat is the Jewish holiday marking the beginning of a new year for trees, and is usually celebrated by planting trees and exchanging gifts of dried fruit with loved ones. While these traditional activities are great and we support going out to plant trees (thus increasing the amount of carbon-eating leaves out there), these […]

As a Green Prophet studying at Ben Gurion University, for the last two weeks I have been out of school due to rockets on Beer Sheva. Earlier this week I took advantage of BGU’s location in the desert to hike away from the sirens and remember the beauty of being outside in the undeveloped areas […]

For those of you out there who may have been planning an eco tourist trip to Israel but have… ahem… postponed your plans for the time being, don’t cancel all of your vacation plans just yet. Katan Adventures, a New York based travel company, might be able to provide help planning an alternative trip with […]

While rockets fly overhead, Bat-Zion Benjaminson tends her garden. The religious mother of four hopes to establish an eco-village in the moshav (cooperative community) of Shokeda, which is located just six kilometers away from the border of Gaza. According to Bat-Zion, the war being fought in the area is not just with rockets. “This is […]

Green Prophet would love to invite the Splash icon to Israel and other Middle Eastern countries. See the video below where Daryl Hannah, the foxy American actress-turned environmentalist, explores eco-tourism in Egypt. Some tips to be learned from the vid. For more eco-tourism stops in Sinai-Egypt see our post on Eco-Tourism in Egypt.

(Plastic bags on the trees in Vietnam) With the bombing and chaos in Israel and Gaza right now, it’s a little hard to focus on positive green news from the Middle East. My passion for it, is a little clouded by all the politics and news of violence. See my latest post on TreeHugger “When […]

Several Middle Eastern countries are competing to have their natural treasures listed on the new “Seven Wonders of the World” online competition. Some friendly competition for a change? The Lebanese are lobbying that their majestic cave complex will make the list. The Jeita Grotto (pictured above), sits in a river valley near Beirut, and is […]

It’s holiday time, joked Prof. David Eilam. He and the head of Tel Aviv University’s Zoology Department Prof. Micha Ilan escorted me around Tel Aviv’s City Safari on foot today. It was dinner time for three wolves who were carrying around butchered turkeys, rescued apparently, from the garbage. According to Eilam, animals that die on […]

Today’s guest post comes by way of my friend Tania Guenter, who I met years ago when she was living in Tel Aviv. The world-traveling writer, from New Zealand, shares her green and not-so-green experiences with Green Prophet while in Vietnam. There are standard rules they put in almost every hotel in Vietnam. My favourite […]

Green Prophet recently wrote about the rise in environmental activism and awareness amongst Palestinians, including conservation biologist and educator, Sami Backleh. In this guest post, Sami, a resident of east Jerusalem, writes about the flora and fauna of Wadi Qelt in the Jordan Valley near Jericho. (Article originally published in This Week in Palestine.) It […]

The Red Sea is a wonder of the world. Comparing to the Great Barrier Reef in terms of coral diversity and beauty, lack of environmental awareness in the Middle East (in Jordan, Israel and the countries below them), are causing the demise of coral and other marine life. Now, a new global program that recognizes […]

The lush marine habitat by Aqaba Beach in Jordan is among the richest in the world, attracting thousands of visitors per year. But the popularity of the beach is also its downfall: In just 20 minutes, divers recovered more than 150 kilos of garbage from the waters of the reef, including plastic cups, cans, and […]